


Distorted Reflections of You

by USSRomanoff



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Implied Hawkeye squared feelings, basically using Kate to point out all my saltiness over Ultron, lost in the multiverse, post Ultron, pre civil war, really salty, verse crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-07-14 08:12:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7161857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/USSRomanoff/pseuds/USSRomanoff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While traveling the multiverse wih America, Kate is separated from her and injured in a world similar to her own but so different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Distorted Reflections of You

**Author's Note:**

> I really hated Ultron and what it did to Clint's character. I was thinking of what Kate would say if confronted with the MCU Clint and this was born.

Light hits her eyes and Kate grunts, her head hurts, she's not conscious enough to know what's going on or where she is. She can hear voices, they fade in and out as she lays there in soft dewy grass.

"Dad!" She hears a child call out. Kate lifts a hand to her temple where the pain is radiating from. Her hand meets wet. Blood? When did she hurt her head? 

"--Arrows like you--" Kate becomes aware of the voices again, two different children, calling out to someone else. She wishes she could tell them to be quiet but all she can manage is a small moan before she drifts off again. 

"Did you find her like this?" Kate knows that voice, she struggles to hold on to consciousness. Clint is here. But why? Was she with him? Or did he come looking for her? What was she doing? Kate struggles to stay awake, to will her eyes open and ask Clint but she can't. 

"No use leaving her outside-- no matter where she came from," a woman's voice now, one she doesn't know. Kate feels herself being picked up and she manages to flutter her eyes a bit, catching a glance of Clint carrying her. 

"Clint? What?" She croaks out and then loses consciousness totally as she's carried. 

* * *

Kate wakes to the sound of voices again, hushed tones this time, two adults. She can feel her hold on consciousness is stronger now, she is more aware. She's laid out on a couch and she can feel a bandage on her head. She remains still with her eyes closed, listening to the conversation. 

"Maybe she was at the academy? I don't remember seeing her," she heard Clint whisper. 

"She reacted to you, like she knew you though," the woman's voice from before whispers back. "She turned towards you when you carried her and said your name." 

"She wasn't hardly conscious enough to know what she was doing," Clint insisted. 

"Still-- who is she?" 

"Beats me," Clint grunts. "Never heard of anyone else that uses arrows." 

Kate furrows her brow, how could Clint not know who she was? He knew! She was Hawkeye, they were Hawkeye, together. Why would he try to claim he doesn't know her? He'd never done that before, if anything she'd be the one to shrug and say she wasn't with him. 

The voices move to another room altogether and Kate opens her eyes, staring up at the ceiling she touches her bandage. How did she hit her head? She doesn't recognize the room she was in, it was country-looking house. Definitely not Bed-Stuy. 

She moves to sit up but is overcome by dizziness and lays back against the couch. Kate feels disoriented still, she can hear kids playing somewhere and-- is that a baby crying? 

"Futz, where am I?" She mumbles under her breath, looking at least for Lucky to come keep her company but not seeing him. She starts to consider that maybe Clint brought her to Barney's but then she remembers that Simone would know who she was. And Simone only had two boys not a boy, a girl and a baby. No, she had to be somewhere else. 

Where though? 

The girl wanders into the room Kate is in and notices Kate eyes are open. Turning to the doorway she just came through she yells at the top of her lungs. 

"Dad! That purple arrow lady is awake!" 

"Futz kid, lower your voice around those of us with head injuries," Kate says. She wants to roll her eyes at purple arrow lady but the very idea makes her feel dizzy again. She guesses it's no worse than being called "lady hawkman". 

Kate hears footsteps approach, the couch is turned away from the door so she can't see who it is. 

"Go upstairs with your mother," Kate hears Clint say and the girl bounds off. He comes around the couch and takes a seat in a chair across from Kate, watching her. 

"Aurgh, where the hell am I? This isn't Barney's place, right?" Kate asks him, wishing she could sit up. 

"No, it isn't. I don't think I even know a Barney, is that where you're heading?" 

Kate laughs and blinks when Clint's face remains blank. "Barney... Barney Barton? Your _brother_?" 

"I think you're confused. I don't have a brother," he says, brows furrowed at her. God, he looks so much older to her. 

"Bro, come on... Yes you do, like-- I know he stole money from you and made you think he was dead for a bit but that's a little harsh," Kate replies. 

"You must have hit your head pretty hard," he says, looking intently at her. "None of that has happened to me. You must think I'm someone else because I don't know you." 

"No, I'm Kate, Katie-Kate... You know me! I'm the one that pretends not to know you! I get mad at you and ignore you! Not the other way around!" Kate insists, getting upset enough to prop her elbows up some. Why is he being like this? 

"Look-- I don't know how you think you know me but we've never met," he replies with a shake of his head. 

"I know you because we're Hawkeye!" She can hear her voice rising, and she isn't able to tell if it's from annoyance or hysteria. 

"We? You're not Hawkeye. Who are you? Who are you with?" 

"I-- yes I am!" Kate insists stubbornly. "I'm Kate Bishop! I'm not _with_ anyone. I'm technically an Avenger because Cap made me one but Maria Hill keeps insisting I'm not so... I just hang out with you." 

"You're not an Avenger, kid," he replies and it take everything Kate has not to hurl a pillow at his stupid face. He stands and moves towards her, Kate's head is still reeling it take her a moment to realize he's cuffing her to the leg of the couch. 

"What the futz-- _hey!_ You jerk, are you kidding me?" She complains as she stares in disbelief at her wrist. 

"Sorry-- I can't risk you being able to move around easily with my family around while I try to research you," he replies and moves towards the exit. 

Kate sits straight up, her vision darkening with the effort. "Family?! You can't mean-- you think I'm going to hurt anyone? Who do you think I am?" Her protests go unnoticed and Clint leaves her alone. Kate flops back heavily on the couch and closes her eyes, her head pounding. Family? _Family?!_ Clint Barton? No way. No futzing way. She feels hurt at the same time that he thinks she is a threat. Kate rolls onto her side, careful of her handcuff and tries to stay awake and puzzle this out. She's tired though and her head is killing her. Kate falls asleep accidentally her mind confused. 

* * *

Ice clinks in a glass and Kate wakes to the sounds of someone in the room again. She opens her eyes and sees a woman with brown hair in the room with her. Kate tries to place her but can't seem to ever recall her before. 

The woman crouches near Kate and offers her a glass of water. "Hey, you should drink," she says smiling kindly at her. 

Kate is too annoyed by her current situation to return the smile. She scowls and takes the glass, lifting her head carefully to drink as she watches the woman through narrowed eyes. 

"I'm Laura, you hit your head pretty bad," she says still looking at Kate. "Do you know how you ended up here?" 

Kate sighs and hands the glass back, only a quarter of the water gone. "Lady, I don't even know where _here_ is," Kate says. "I just know this isn't New York." 

"Is that where you were trying to go? New York?" 

"No, I was there... Look-- my head hurts and I'm very confused. _None_ of this is right. It just isn't, I don't know if it's some elaborate prank, in which case haha not funny, or some bizarro worl--" Kate stops in the middle of speaking, suddenly a light going off in her head. The multiverse. She was with America! They were in the multiverse, Kate can't remember why yet but-- she must have landed in another universe, one where Clint is apparently old and has a family. And she's not even a part of his life. She feels offended for this world's Kate. But it starts to make sense, how he doesn't know her. "Hey-- where'd Clint go? I need to talk to him," she says. Kate would have to make this Clint believe her. 

"What? You can tell me," Laura insists. 

"No, I mean, I don't even know you--" Kate pauses realizing she doesn't even know this Clint. Because he's definitely not her Clint. "I-- can you just get him?" 

The baby starts crying from upstairs again and Laura stands, taking the glass of water with her. "I'll let him know," she says in a way that makes Kate feel like she's not Laura's priority right now. Laura leaves the room and Kate frowns. 

If she was in another universe, how was she going to get home? She needed America, right? It didn't seem like America was with her. Kate needs to figure out where America was. What if she was here too and injured? Kate tries to sit up but was stopped by the handcuff. Kate frowns, it's not like moving would be too difficult, she could get on the floor and lift the leg of the couch, slip the cuff off of the leg. But where would she go from there? 

Kate knows she isn't in New York, but beyond that she didn't know where she was. She huffs and stares angrily at the ceiling. Slipping her cuff would likely just make Clint follow since he thought she was a potential threat to him and his family. She doesn't have the energy to deal with that. She just needs to talk with him and explain. 

She waits on the couch, trying to remember as much as she can from before she ended up here. Nothing comes to her mind other than what she already knows. She was with America but what they were doing and what happened, she can't remember. She hears footsteps approach again and she strains to look over the back of the couch to see who it is. She catches sight of Clint and relaxes back on the couch, wishing for him to come in. 

He sits across from her again and looks at her expectantly. Kate squints at him wanting him to take the cuff off of her. 

"I couldn't find any records of the name you gave me," he said. 

"Yeah, okay, I think I know why..." Kate says and pauses looking pointedly at the cuff. "Can you? I'd prefer to sit up." Clint stays where he is and Kate huffs before continuing. "Okay. So-- my friend America Chavez she can hop dimensions... My memory is still hazy from hitting my head but I was with her and I must have gotten separated from her. I landed here... In a dimension that's not mine." 

Clint looks over her, considering her story she's sure. "Can you prove it?" 

"Uh, how exactly am I supposed to do _that_?" Kate asks, raising her brows at him. It wasn't as though people got ID cards stating which dimension they were from. It took Kate a beat before she had an idea. "Oh! Hey um, my phone is in my quiver... Go get it okay?" 

Clint nods and stands, leaving the room to wherever he's stashed her bow. Kate knows she's not waiting long but it feels like forever until he returns. He unlocks the cuff on her wrist and hands Kate her phone. Kate rubs her wrist, more to make a show of it than because it is sore and sits up. 

"Okay, um..." Kate opens up her photos and starts scrolling until she finds a selfie she made Clint pose for with her. They had bruises and bandages because they'd just been in a fight. Clint's arm is draped over her shoulders and they're both sporting goofy smiles. They have a hard time posing seriously with each other, there ends up this weird tension they have to try to cut with comedy or something. "Here!" She shoves her phone at him to show him. "That's me and you, well-- my dimension you." 

Clint holds her phone and looks over the photo of them together. "Are there more?" 

Kate nods and reaches over, scrolling through more photos of her and Clint and of just Clint. There's pictures from when they dressed up in a formal and tux to stop that circus for stealing money. Pictures of Clint and Lucky playing tug of war on the floor that Kate snapped, not telling him about it. Pictures of Clint walking around in a hospital gown in his apartment in the background of Kate's selfie as she rolls her eyes. "See? So that's... That's proof right?" She smiles at him hopefully, wanting to be able to start looking for America and not be stuck here. 

"Yeah..." He says slowly. "That's... Um, so this is me? And we're..." Clint trails off as he stares at her. 

Kate stares at him, not wanting him to get the wrong idea of her and him. "We're _partners,_ Hawkeye-- both of us. Friends on most days unless you-- he?-- pisses me off," she replies. 

"Oh okay, I was going to say you're just a kid," he replies and nods. 

Kate scoffs at him. "I'm twenty-three okay, so don't be implying there's any pedophilia," she says. "Not that I'd ever let it happen because I've seen what a goddamn disaster he is in relationships. That's not a mess I want to get involved with, thank you." 

"You're still a kid," he says. 

"And you're an old man," she retorts. 

Clint smirks a little and shakes his head at her. "Right, so if you're from another dimension, how do you get back?" 

Kate shrugs a little. "I need to find America, I don't know if she's here or... Elsewhere... But I don't know how to get anywhere without her. Not even Loki can hop dimensions without her," she says. 

Clint bristles at Loki's name and his eyes narrow. "You know Loki too?" 

"Yeah he was a Young Avenger because he was reincarnated as a kid and given a second chance to not be a villain. He struggles with it but-- he helped save the day in the end... Even if he started the whole thing," Kate replies. "It was a long complicated story and I was mostly focused on breaking up with Noh-Varr at the end there." 

"Young Avengers?" 

"Yeah we're not an active team anymore... We've had several members... Let's see... You were dead when we formed, Captain America gave me your bow and the name Hawkeye when he made us Avengers. There was me, Patriot, Stature, Speed, Wiccan, Iron Lad and Hulkling. Then Vision joined and Iron Lad... Well-- anyways he wasn't a member... Then Cassie died and... And then Eli left out of guilt, and we disbanded for a bit... Then we formed again with Loki, America, Marvel Boy and Prodigy as new members," she says, rambling she feels like she might have lost him. 

"I _was_ dead?" He asks her. 

"Yeah, and then you were a ninja for a bit," Kate smiles. "But then you gave it up and now you're just Hawkeye again." 

"And you're Hawkeye too? Doesn't that get confusing?" 

"Eh," Kate shrugs. "I guess sometimes." 

Clint shakes his head. "Alright, so we need to find this friend of yours... Let me make some phone calls, alright? You can crash here for now... Laura is going to insist anyways." 

"Alright..." Kate says and watches him leave the room. She sighs and leans back in the couch scrunching her face. This was just too weird here, all she wanted right now was to get home. Home to where things made sense. She's sure that there are far more differences between her dimension and this one.


End file.
